Mt. Tabor Park In Search of Portland

It is one of America's only urban volcanoes, but Mt. Tabor park is all about greenery, water and respite. Opened in 1909, it's one of Portland's earliest examples of the City Beautiful movement and Olmsted-style park design, which in the early 20th century saw the sons of famed Central Park designer Frederick Law Olmsted take his vision across the nation. Mt. Tabor's open-air reservoirs are the lake-like vistas attracting hikers and picnickers, while at its top is not just a panoramic view of downtown and Mt. Hood but the site of a contemporary reckoning over just which statue should stand there. Historian and film producer Laurence Cotton joins us in the first interview to discuss the Olmsteds who helped birth Tabor's design. In the second, historian and speaker Sig Unander discusses Claire Phillips, a World War II hero from Portland who, before earning a Medal of Freedom for spying on the Japanese from her Manilla nightclub, as a teen used to climb Mt. Tabor, smoke cigarettes and dream.